What a week!

On Friday (after the earthquake) we went to Istalif for a hike and spent the day at the Lodge. It was beautiful, the air was clean and it is so rural. After spending two months in the city it's hard to believe that there are such green and quiet parts to this country. I think our lungs appreciated the clean air as well. As we headed back into the city the “Kabul cough” returned.

The Lodge is a small camp in the mountains that is a perfect place to hike, rest and enjoy the beauty that this country has to offer. They advertise “mine free trails.” We hiked in, had lunch and spent the day exploring the mountains and the wild life around us. Some of our group saw a rattlesnake. Thankfully I was not part of that group!

The road in takes you through town and some parts of the road are very narrow. At one point we had to back up and squeeze the van next to the stonewall so another car could pass. As you get closer to the Lodge the road becomes more of a dried up river bed and it brings you about a mile away from the lodge. You have to hike the rest of the way in. By far, this was my favorite day here.

The weather is officially cold and I am still waiting for them to install my heaters. Every day I ask what's the status and I'm told "tomorrow." This morning it was 60 degrees in my apartment, not terrible but not great. I have been told that in the winter, showering is over rated but central heat is not. I am starting to understand the full meaning of that statement.

Yesterday was an interesting day here as I’m sure you saw in the news. I live far enough away from the events that I did not hear anything. But it is very strange to watch the news footage and know you've been there. I do have friends that live nearby to that and they heard every thing. Thankfully they are all safe. In pre-field training they encouraged us to find 5 joys in each day and after yesterday it's good to remember that there are at least 5 in each day. These are mine from yesterday:

1. Me and my team are safe

2. We had city power

3. I had a good Skype connection with my Mom

4. We were on the late shuttle so I was able to sleep in until 6:30a

5. Ended the day with dinner and a game of "Settlers" with friends

Keep Smiling!!

My First Earthquake....

Last night I had several people over for dinner and it was a wonderful way to end a crazy week. Good pizza, good friends and good fellowship. Around 11:30pm I climbed into bed and pretty much fell right to sleep.

Some time around 12:30am, I am woken up from a sound sleep and my bed is gently shaking and the dogs are barking. In my dazed and confused state, I figured it was a big truck driving by. Then I remembered where I am and that no big trucks drive by the house. My next thought is, "oh no it must have been an explosion." Then I realize that my bed is still shaking and it's gotten worse. Along with bed, I can hear the clothes hangers banging against the closet door and the cabinets under the bathroom sink are rattling. I swear I saw the walls moving, but I was half asleep so that may not be true. It ended just as gradually as it started but it felt like it lasted for 5-10 minutes. In reality it was about 15 seconds.

Needless to say it freaked me out. I was so disorientated and wasn't really sure what had happened. Being woken up from a deep sleep is always terrible but it really stinks when its because of an earthquake. It took me a few seconds after it all ended to remember that I read something a while back that there are earthquakes here. Then a another few seconds to remember that I should have grabbed my passport and stood in the door frame.

The next 20 minutes or so were spent sending text messages to make sure the rest of the team was alright. It was over an hour before I was able to think about going back to sleep and even then I didn't sleep well. I kept thinking, "My sister Andrea lives in California and she lives through them, so chill out." But seriously, like this country doesn't have enough struggles, I now have to add earthquakes to the list?!

I learned this morning it was a 6.2 -not bad for my first one! But this was an experience I could have missed and been perfectly happy about it. Thankfully we are all ok and I didn't feel any aftershocks. Let's hope this was my last one.

Keep Smiling!

My First Wedding

I attended my first wedding in this country on Monday night. The wedding was held in a wedding hall and about 700 people were invited. As we approached the hall you could hear the music playing outside. We handed our invitation to the man at the door and were ushered into the female side of the hall. Men sit on one side and women on another. There is a partition dividing the room in half and neither side can see the other.

The women's side did have a video screen that would periodically show what was happening on the men's side. There was a band, but again the partition surrounded them. The room was full with tables with plastic flowers as center pieces. As we walked in, we were ushered to a front table near the dance floor. On the other side of the dance floor was the "head" table. The head table is raised off the floor, the wall behind them was decorated with white linen, white plastic flowers, a green sash and white and green small lights. The lights looked like Christmas lights. The atmosphere was very festive and happy.

The tables surrounded the dance floor and one by one women got up and danced. Generally the women would dance in groups of 2, sometimes 3. They would be on the dance floor for a few minutes and then give another group a chance. The dancing was beautiful and graceful. Yes, I did dance. I didn't have much of a choice, my coworker pretty much dragged me to the dance floor. Thankfully it was only for a few minutes because my dancing skills are no better here then they are at home. I felt very silly but everyone was very kind and supportive as I gave it my best.

The women don't have to cover their heads since no men are present. Everyone gets very dressed up, there were lots of bright colors and lots of sequence. Some women wore gowns and others, like me wore a Punjabi. The wedding started at 5pm but we were told to come around 6-6:30p. Around 7:30p the bride and groom entered the room.

They roll out a white carpet. The bride is wearing a dark green dress and carrying red flowers. Her hair was pulled up and she had some flowers in her hair. Her lipstick had glitter in and it looked like some was in her hair. The groom wore a white suit and a green tie. They both looked sharp. They walked in and sat at the head table. For the next hour or so, different guests would have their picture taken with the bride and groom.

There are two parts to the wedding. The first part is called the "neka" and the bride wears green and she wears white for the wedding. If I understand it correctly, neka is agreement of marriage. The part of the wedding I observed was the neka stage. I think while we were eating, the groom meets with the mullah and the marriage is made official when he signs the marriage contract/certificate. The bride is not present for this part, I think this is when she changes into her white gown. We had to leave right after we ate, so I never saw the bride in her white gown. A few days after the wedding, the guests will bring gifts to the newlyweds house.

Around 9pm the food was served. It was a sit down dinner. One dish called kabuli pilau, which is rice, shaved carrots, raisins and meat was really good. This is very traditional dish. We also had ashak which is a leek filled pasta with meat sauce. That reminded me of a pirogi. I didn't enjoy this as much as the kabuli pilau. Other food dishes were served, one with eggplant and another chicken dish but I don't remember what they were called. They served coke to drink or orange soda. There was also grapes and bananas available.

I wasn't able to stay until the end. But it was a lot of fun and if you ever have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.

Keep Smiling

The Fabric Bazaar

I was invited to my first Afghan wedding and needed an outfit to wear. A coworker took me to a fabric bazaar to select fabric for a Punjabi.

The fabric bazaar is a long path of shipping containers lined up next to each other and each had a fairly large selection of fabrics. They ranged from cotton to silk. There wasn't a lot of room between the containers and thankfully the bazaar wasn't crowded because I felt like we were walking on top of each other.

The last time I picked fabric for an outfit I was in 6th grade and was going to be a junior bridesmaid at a wedding. I don't think I had much say in picking the fabric or what the final outfit would look like. This was harder then I expected. I struggled with looking at the fabric and visualizing how the outfit would look. Plus the choices of fabric were overwhelming.

It was handy that the fabric was packaged to include pants, top and chadar (head scarf). I tend to avoid wearing tops with a lot of patterns, which I was told was not the trend at weddings. Most women will wear bright colors, patterns, gold and/or sequence. It was a huge help to have my coworker with me. In the end, we found something both of us could live with. She was so cute as she tried to guide me towards fabrics that had more "bling" then the ones I was drawn to. I selected a purple and maroon fabric with a silver pattern in it.

Once we selected the fabric, which cost $10 it was off to the tailor. In the tailor's shop there was a book that was filled with the different styles of punjabi's. I was so excited that there was a book because I wasn't really sure what a punjabi looked like until this point. A punjabi is a type of pant suit; shirt has short sleeves but is long and comes to mid thighs. The pants are elastic waist and loose fitting. Punjabi's are very comfortable to wear, it reminded me of wearing scrubs. To have the outfit made it cost $5. Not bad to have an outfit for a wedding that cost $15.

I think this is the way to go, select fabric and have someone make the clothes for you. It's so much easier then going to the mall and trying on a hundred different things. Its also a lot less frustrating because in the end the outfit fit.

Keep Smiling.

An end to the mouse drama?

Last week the mouse in the office was successful in stealing the bread we left in the trap. On Thursday afternoon I was meeting with a few nurses in the office when we all heard a loud snap and then this high pitched squealing. Within a few seconds there was a banging sound that came from inside the cabinet and three very confused nurses in the office. After some coaxing, one of the nurses opened the cabinet to find the mouse trap up against the back of the cabinet, no mouse and no bread. And so we reset the trap and figured/hoped, maybe we injured the mouse.

Today, we had success. We checked the trap and this time our mouse wasn't so lucky. After a quick call to housekeeping the mouse was taken out to his burial grounds. The head of facilities has explained to me that this will not be the last time we have a mouse in the nurses office. But for now, I feel like it's nurses 1, mouse 0.

One of my sisters asked if she should include some mouse traps in a care package to me, I don't think we have reached that point... yet. But I am open to suggestions for how to keep them outside of the hospital, especially the nurses office =)

Happy Eid!!

Eid Mubarak! Yesterday marked the end of Eid, which is the 3 day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. This holiday is celebrated by going to visit friends and family, eating and drinking tea. Children get gifts of toys and adults will get new clothes. The first day most of the visits are between family and the next two days are devoted to friends. There are lots of people out and about and many shops are closed. We were invited to two different homes on the last day of Eid; one from a current employee and the second from a former employee. It was really fun day.

Usually the men and women eat in separate rooms. I'm told this happens at weddings as well. I was invited to my first wedding and will be able to describe that in a few weeks. I'm not sure why they broke this custom but it might have been because we were the honored guests. In the second house, after we ate Jackie and I were taken into the other room where the wives of the men were. They were so sweet and between our limited Dari and their limited English it turned in to a very pleasant afternoon. One of the cousins was able to translate, she teaches english classes.

We all sat on the floor on these large cushions called toe-shacks (phonetic spelling). A table cloth is spread out on the floor and the "table" is set. Most of the food served is cookies, candy and various nuts. Since we were at one place during lunch they also served chicken and yogurt.

The conversations ranged from politics, work and various topics. Everyone was so hospitable and let us ask questions about how they celebrate Eid and what's it like to fast for a month. Ramadan is never the same time each year, and what I imagine as the hardest part is not being able to drink during the day when Ramadan falls during the summer months. Our hosts were equally as interested in our holidays and how many days we get off from work during those holidays. Most of their questions were about which American holiday was similar to Eid. We compared various aspects to Christmas and Thanksgiving, in some ways Easter.

The two holidays they were most interested in learning about were Valentine's day and April Fools. They loved that we have a holiday that allows people to play tricks on one another. Of all the holidays to pick, that's what they had the most questions about. It was really hard to explain that those aren't "real" holidays, that concept doesn't translate well. It's fascinating to hear and learn what people know about America.

Keep Smiling!

Eating for fuel

Eating has become more about fuel and less about pleasure. I broke down and have decided to support the local economy and hired a women to cook for me. She will cook two nights a week and the meals will be a combination of local dishes and some western dishes. She has lots of experience cooking for westerners and the meals are well balanced and much nicer then anything I have been cooking for myself.

Last week was the first week she cooked for me and it was heavenly. Typically I've been having a sandwich, soup or some version of breakfast food for dinner. Eggs for dinner have become a favorite since lunch is typically carb-overload and I feel like I'm developing a protein deficiency.

Cooking here isn't like back home, it's so much more involved. I have a gas oven and you have to use a thermometer to tell how warm the oven is. I have no idea how to cook this way. I did learn how to light it and used it last night to warm up a beef patty I bought at the french bakery. Maybe this weekend I'll take on the challenge of cooking chicken or something? Assuming I can get one that someone else kills, cleans and cuts it up in to pieces that look like something you'd find in a western grocery store. Lol, I'm not ready for learning those skills just yet.

Lunch is provided by the hospital. Everyone eats the same thing, there aren't options. It costs $9 a month to feed each employee at the hospital. There is always rice and usually enough on your plate to feed a small village. I have mastered the hand gestures to convey to the food service staff "half of that, please." The main food item has been one of these; beans, okra, small pieces of beef tips or some lentil chickpea mixture. There is always some piece of fruit, mostly melon this time of year. Then a piece of nan (bread) and for beverages its hot tea or water.

We have gone out to eat twice since I have arrived. One night we went to a BBQ place. I'm not a huge red meat eater and during grad school I had really reduced my meat intake. But I saw steak on the menu and couldn't resist, again I think its a protein thing. It was 12oz rib-eye and absolutely so good. As an appetizer we ordered nachos. They aren't the same as back home but they work. I attached a photo of them since words can't really describe what they look like here.

The second place we went out to was a government party. The organization that hosted the evening is here training the national lawyers in how our legal system works with the goal of improving the legal system here. They have training centers in several of the providences and their work sounds fascinating. Every other week they have a dinner and we were invited to attend. The food, amazing - hamburgers and shrimp on the grill. I have to figure out how to get invited regularly. Rumor has it that sometimes they even have ice-cream!

Twice we have ordered take-out. Once was from Pizza Brazil and the second place was Indian food. The pizza was thin crust and not bad. Again similar to home but not really the same. Indian food was pretty good and generally that isn't something I tend to eat.

There is the French Bakery and in addition to beef patties they have some great desserts. Sometimes on the way home from work we can stop there. Its a cute little place and they have different types of bread, cookies and donuts. They also sell eggs, yogurt and milk. I believe the owners of this place train nationals how to cook the food items that are sold in the bakery.

I think until I get a better handle on the language, cooking will be a challenge. Fruit and vegetables are sold in the smaller roadside stands, English isn't their strength and Dari isn't mine. Last night a few of us walked to a stand around the corner from our apartment and I was able to get bananas. Between not understanding the language and how to order the fruit in kilograms, its stressful. Everything is weighed in kilograms and I know 1kg = 2.2 lbs but how does that translate into paying for 3 bananas? Also depending on when you get to these stands, the quality of the fruit and veggies varies.

We make it work and no worries I'm not starving. Plus I'll start language lesson next month which will be so helpful.

Keep Smiling!